Zionism

The Anticipatory Reach of Prophecy: Habakkuk 2:9-14

In the ancient world no less than now, prophets
were hated by the powers-that-be. As Agamemnon famously said
to the soothsayer Calchas: “Prophet of evil, when have you ever said good
things to me? You love to foretell the worst, always the worst! You never bear
good news” (Homer, The Iliad, Book 1:106-108). Ahab expected no better
from Micaiah ben Imlah. He was right not to! “Didn’t I tell you that he would
not prophesy good fortune for me? Only misfortune!” (1 Kgs 22:18). Almost by
definition, the world is going to hell in a handbasket. That being so, whoever
makes accurate predictions about the future, almost by definition, foretells
doom.

The tightrope act Habakkuk performs as a
prophet is the function of a double-barreled assertion. The slaughter he
foresees was ordained by God even if the slaughter defied justice and fell
under God’s judgment.

One disaster calls forth another in Habakkuk.
Horrifying as that was, it corresponded to the shape of reality. The prophet
could not and did not pretend otherwise. Here is Hab 2:9-14:

Ah,
the one who grabs what he can grab– a disaster for his house –
so as to set his nest on highand snatch himself from the grip of
disaster!

You
have plotted shame for your house, cutting off many peoples,your appetite straying.
For the stone in the wall cries out,and the rafters in the woodwork
answer it!

Ah,
the one who builds a city with spilled blood,who establishes a town with iniquity!
Isn’t this – just watch! –fromיהוה
of Armies?
Let peoples toil with plenty of fire,nations grow weary with plenty of
slaughter!
Then the earth will be filledwith knowledge of יהוה’s gloryas waters cover the sea.

The peculiar strength of the prophecy of
Habakkuk is its anticipatory reach. It was not clairvoyant to predict that the
Chaldean juggernaut would overrun the earth, slaughter and kill at will, and
stuff its net with nations as fishermen do with fish.

It was prescient to proclaim, before the
predicted crime was consummated, that punishment would follow. The result,
according to H, is that knowledge of יהוה’s glory would fill the earth as waters cover the sea (2:14). Conversely,
the inability of the other gods to predict the slaughter of their own peoples,
and the eventual slaughter of the slaughterer, is taken as proof that they do
not exist (2:18-19).

Believing is KnowingComments on things like prophecy, predestination, and reward and punishment from an orthodox Jewish perspective, by David Guttmann

Ben Byerly's Blogthoughts on the Bible, Africa, Kenya, aid, and social justice, by Ben Byerly, a PhD candidate at Africa International University (AIU), in Nairobi, Kenya working on “The Hopes of Israel and the Ends of Acts” (Luke’s narrative defense of Paul to Diaspora Judeans in Acts 16-20)

C. OrthodoxyChristian, Contemporary, Conscientious… or Just Confused, by Ken Brown, a very thoughtful blog (archive). Ken is currently a Dr. Theol. student at Georg-August-Universität in Göttingen, part of The Sofja-Kovalevskaja Research Group studying early Jewish Monotheism. His dissertation will focus on the presentation of God in Job.

Catholic Biblesa thoughtful blog about Bible translations by Timothy, who has a degree in sacred theology from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome (Angelicum) and teaches theology in a Catholic high school in Michigan

Chrisendomirreverent blog with a focus on the New Testament, by Chris Tilling, New Testament Tutor for St Mellitus College and St Paul's Theological Centre, London

Claude Mariottinia perspective on the Old Testament and current events by a professor of Old Testament at Northern Baptist Theological Seminary, Chicagoland, Illinois

Codex: Biblical Studies Blogspotby Tyler Williams, a scholar of the Hebrew Bible and cognate literature, now Assistant Professor of Theology at The King's University College in Edmonton, Alberta (archive)

Colours of Scripturereflections on theology, philosophy, and literature, by Benjamin Smith, afflicted with scriptural synaesthesia, and located in London, England

ComplegalitarianA team blog that discusses right ways and wrong ways Scripture might help in the social construction of gender (old archive only; more recent archive, unfortunately, no longer publicly available)

Connected Christianitya place to explore what it might be like if Christians finally got the head, heart, and hands of their faith re-connected (archive)

Conversational TheologySmart and delightful comment by Ros Clarke, a Ph.D. student at the University of the Highlands and Islands, at the (virtual) Highland Theological College (archive)

Daily HebrewFor students of biblical Hebrew and the ancient Near East, by Chip Hardy, a doctoral student at the University of Chicago

Daniel O. McClellana fine blog by the same, who is pursuing a master of arts degree in biblical studies at Trinity Western University just outside of Vancouver, BC.

Davar AkherLooking for alternative explanations: comments on things Jewish and beyond, by Simon Holloway, a PhD student in Classical Hebrew and Biblical Studies at The University of Sydney, Australia

Evedyahuexcellent comment by Cristian Rata, Lecturer in Old Testament of Torch Trinity Graduate School of Theology, Seoul, Korea

Exegetica Digitadiscussion of Logos high-end syntax and discourse tools – running searches, providing the downloads (search files) and talking about what can be done and why it might matter for exegesis, by Mike Heiser

Law, Prophets, and Writingsthoughtful blogging by William R. (Rusty) Osborne, Assistant Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies as College of the Ozarks and managing editor for Journal for the Evangelical Study of the Old Testament

Lingamishdelightful fare by David Ker, Bible translator, who also lingalilngas.

old testament passionGreat stuff from Anthony Loke, a Methodist pastor and Old Testament lecturer in the Seminari Theoloji, Malaysia

Old Testament Pseudepigrapha BlogA weblog created for a course on the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, by James Davila (archive)

On the Main LineMississippi Fred MacDowell's musings on Hebraica and Judaica. With a name like that you can't go wrong.

p.ost an evangelical theology for the age to comeseeking to retell the biblical story in the difficult transition from the centre to the margins following the collapse of Western Christendom, by Andrew Perriman, independent New Testament scholar, currently located in Dubai

PaleoJudaicaby James Davila, professor of Early Jewish Studies at the University of St. Andrews, St Andrews, Scotland. Judaism and the Bible in the news; tidbits about ancient Judaism and its context

Serving the Wordincisive comment on the Hebrew Bible and related ancient matters, with special attention to problems of philology and linguistic anthropology, by Seth L. Sanders, Assistant Professor in the Religion Department of Trinity College, Hartford, CT

Targumanon biblical and rabbinic literature, Christian theology, gadgetry, photography, and the odd comic, by Christian Brady, associate professor of ancient Hebrew and Jewish literature and dean of the Schreyer Honors College at Penn State

The Biblia Hebraica Bloga blog about Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, the history of the Ancient Near East and the classical world, Syro-Palestinian archaeology, early Judaism, early Christianity, New Testament interpretation, English Bible translations, biblical theology, religion and culture, philosophy, science fiction, and anything else relevant to the study of the Bible, by Douglas Magnum, PhD candidate, University of the Free State, South Africa

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